THE EXHORTATION THREAD (For Christians Who Love Jesus)

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. (Titus 3:9-11)

 

 

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

[brotherdon]

44 minutes ago, brakelite said:

Why do you insist on referring to the law of Moses? When God gave the tables of stone to Moses on Sinai what theological miracle changes the ownership of those laws from God to Moses? When we sin, do we go to Moses for forgiveness? When John describes sin as being the transgression 

 

Exodus 31:18, ¹⁸ And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

[brotherdon]

Isaiah 60, 

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

² For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

³ And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

⁴ Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

⁵ Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

⁶ The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.

⁷ All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.

⁸ Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?

⁹ Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

¹⁰ And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

¹¹ Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

¹² For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

¹² For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.

¹³ The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

¹⁴ The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee; The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ Whereas thou has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

¹⁶ Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

¹⁷ For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.

¹⁸ Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.

¹⁹ The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

²⁰ Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

²¹ Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

²² A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

The Jesus I know...

• Had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, or beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2)

 

• Was a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)

 

• Loved sinners, but did not forebear reproving them or warning them of the consequences of their sin; nor did He ever make light of, partake in, or approve of sin

 

• Was a man of peace, but had a divisive message that left no room for compromise between serving God and serving the sinful nature, and Who offered only one way to heaven: Himself

 

• Did not promise unconditional eternal security (!)

 

• Would leave ninety-nine of His sheep to seek out one that went astray

 

• Was not violent and did not condone or preach violence of any kind

 

• Is, among other things, love

 

• Always spoke the truth, whether or not it was to the preference of His audience

 

• Is holy and righteous

 

• Was and is zealous for His Father's house (formerly the Jewish temple, now the Church)

 

• Did not and does not flatter

 

• Was and is not political, nor does He encourage or support disobedience to or the overthrowing of governments, unless the disobedience is a matter of having to obey God rather than man

 

• Did not and does not show partiality

 

• Fulfilled the law of Moses, and does not command or desire Christians to keep the law of Moses

 

• Lived to do His Father's will and to serve others, rather than Himself

 

• Promised those who would follow Him tribulation in this world, not a good time or material prosperity

 

• Has eyes of flaming fire and a face like the sun, and is coming back in His glory (not as He was, but as He is) to destroy and judge the earth, take vengeance on His enemies, and reward His saints

 

• Is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20)

 

• Is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

 

(If Jesus were to preach in your church today, in another form, would you recognize Him? Or would He be a heretic to you? Revisit the teachings of the New Testament and test them against what your church teaches---or doesn't teach---and find out how well you really know your God.)

 

"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21 ESV)

 

He (the antichrist) shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. (Daniel 11:32 ESV)

[frienduff thaylorde]

3 hours ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

The Jesus I know...

• Had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, or beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2)

 

• Was a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)

 

• Loved sinners, but did not forebear reproving them or warning them of the consequences of their sin; nor did He ever make light of, partake in, or approve of sin

 

• Was a man of peace, but had a divisive message that left no room for compromise between serving God and serving the sinful nature, and Who offered only one way to heaven: Himself

 

• Did not promise unconditional eternal security (!)

 

• Would leave ninety-nine of His sheep to seek out one that went astray

 

• Was not violent and did not condone or preach violence of any kind

 

• Is, among other things, love

 

• Always spoke the truth, whether or not it was to the preference of His audience

 

• Is holy and righteous

 

• Was and is zealous for His Father's house (formerly the Jewish temple, now the Church)

 

• Did not and does not flatter

 

• Was and is not political, nor does He encourage or support disobedience to or the overthrowing of governments, unless the disobedience is a matter of having to obey God rather than man

 

• Did not and does not show partiality

 

• Fulfilled the law of Moses, and does not command or desire Christians to keep the law of Moses

 

• Lived to do His Father's will and to serve others, rather than Himself

 

• Promised those who would follow Him tribulation in this world, not a good time or material prosperity

 

• Has eyes of flaming fire and a face like the sun, and is coming back in His glory (not as He was, but as He is) to destroy and judge the earth, take vengeance on His enemies, and reward His saints

 

• Is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20)

 

• Is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

 

(If Jesus were to preach in your church today, in another form, would you recognize Him? Or would He be a heretic to you? Revisit the teachings of the New Testament and test them against what your church teaches---or doesn't teach---and find out how well you really know your God.)

 

"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21 ESV)

 

He (the antichrist) shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. (Daniel 11:32 ESV)

With a sad and heavy heart for many,   I must say the simple truth .    IF the real JESUS came into most churches,    they would say hater,  God is love , you NEED JESUS .

and this is a fact,  its a sad fact and makes my heart heavy , but its truth .

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

19 minutes ago, frienduff thaylorde said:

With a sad and heavy heart for many,   I must say the simple truth .    IF the real JESUS came into most churches,    they would say hater,  God is love , you NEED JESUS .

and this is a fact,  its a sad fact and makes my heart heavy , but its truth .

I was going to give this post a thumbs up, but I decided to just say "Amen" instead, because while I agree, I thought a thumbs up would seem like I thought this was a light thing, or that I was somehow happy about the fact, which I am not. 

The Church has become like a city with broken down walls: All her enemies just hop right over and plunder her, robbing her of truth, multiplying within her like a virus or a cancer, and making her sicker and weaker. There's nothing to prevent them: The Church has lost her discernment because of her rebellion, and does not know her God anymore.

 

[frienduff thaylorde]

3 minutes ago, LightShinesInTheDarkness said:

I was going to give this post a thumbs up, but I decided to just say "Amen" instead, because while I agree, I thought a thumbs up would seem like I thought this was a light thing, or that I was somehow happy about the fact, which I am not. 

The Church has become like a city with broken down walls: All her enemies just hop right over and plunder her, robbing her of truth, multiplying within her like a virus or a cancer, and making her sicker and weaker. There's nothing to prevent them: The Church has lost her discernment because of her rebellion, and does not know her God anymore.

 

But by grace , we aint giving up ,   no matter how many hate us ,   my prayer is only for their good, that they repent and have the true life found only in Christ .

 

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

31 minutes ago, frienduff thaylorde said:

But by grace , we aint giving up ,   no matter how many hate us ,   my prayer is only for their good, that they repent and have the true life found only in Christ .

 

I know that many Christians will wash their robes, and may even be doing so now, and that they will be victorious in the time to come; and I know that not all the saints are rebelling against God, and that there are still some who really do love Jesus, even in this last hour when the love of many has grown cold, and most of the rest are lukewarm. He knows who they are and where they are. So I am not utterly discouraged. It is not for the majority that I persevere in word and prayer, but for the precious minority.

[LightShinesInTheDarkness]

Beware of any group, movement, sect, church, denomination, etc, that has its own book in addition to the Bible, or which adds to or takes away from the teachings of the New Testament, or has a "pet" doctrine---some teaching that it exalts and emphasizes above others or to the exclusion of others.

 

We wrestle not against flesh and blood; and the demons have not given up trying to steal, kill, and destroy sheep by any means possible: If anything they are becoming more intent because the body of Christ has become so feeble, and because the demons know that their time is getting shorter. Their captives and servants come to you with smiles and nice sounding words and plausible arguments, but spiritual discernment and the knowledge of the Bible exposes them for what they really are.

 

Don't flirt with heretics and apostates, and do not be wooed by them: They do the devil's work, albeit unwittingly. They'll draw you away with one teaching that seems mild or noble enough, (like Sabbath keeping, or keeping the Ten Commandments---as they are given in the Old Testament, rather than as they are amplified by Jesus in the New---or keeping the Passover) but it's a gateway drug which will lead into more---and more serious---heresy. It's like bait for a fish. Once you've taken the bait, they'll slowly work to reel you into their ideology and away from everyone who disagrees with you, and to secure your loyalty to their group, instead of Jesus Christ. And their emphasis will be on obedience to the teachings and practices of the group, for the approval of the group, rather than to the Lord and the teachings of Christianity, to please God and to have His approval.

 

And unfortunately, given the generally wretched condition of the Church and its lack of spirituality, the spiritually hungry and thirsty whose needs are not being met by the mealy-mouthed, unprincipled, non-denominational "party churches", may seek out "deeper" religion in sects and denominations which are more Scriptural, conservative, and apparently pious. The problem with these groups is that their sound doctrine is laced with other, unScriptural, unspiritual junk, with a religious form. The former and the latter are really just two forms of apostasy---a more worldly form, and a more religious, Pharisaical form, departing from the teachings of the faith in opposite directions.

 

Knowing your God well is the best way to discern what (and who) is not of Him. And if you don't study His word for yourself, and you don't obey Him and faithfully apply the truth that you already know to your life, you're not going to have the discernment you need, or that you may think you have.

 

And pay attention to the Holy Spirit. If He alerts your spirit that something is not right about what you are hearing, beware.

 

Evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13)

 

 

Just a reminder...

 

• Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (Galatians 5:19-21)

 

• They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. (Galatians 4:17)

 

• If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:20,21)

 

• The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (1 Timothy 1:5-7)

 

• ...Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:13,14)

 

• Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism...puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head...

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world (speaking to Jewish believers who had been under the law of Moses), why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations---"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch"...according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:16-23 )

 

• I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Christ." 

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

 

...For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 3:3,4)

 

• ...Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." (Acts 15:7-11)

 

• But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:11-14)

 

• ...If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:18)

 

• Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God... (1 John 4:1)

 

 

• I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:17-20)

 

Amen.

Edited March 13, 2018 by LightShinesInTheDarkness